ARTICLES

  In search of the Opaline

  Fishermen of all persuasions are, of course, notorious for their tales of  'the one that got away, so we are always urged to take a pinch of salt with it', if not  the vinegar as well .  I am neither a fisherman nor an angler myself, so I cannot attest to the accuracy of the claims we hear about.  However, if any of these sportsmen are also budgerigar breeders and/or exhibitors and they start talking about their 'Club Show winner (if it had grown a tail)', or that 'brilliant nest feather' ( it moulted out as black as Dick's hat-band ) etc, etc , I will have no difficulty whatsoever in accepting every word they say.

 Why ?  Simply because my brother and I have experienced just about everything that is, or has been, going in this respect. There was that superb natural showman (a Grey cock) which never looked anything but magnificent in the show cage in the aviary, but changed into a misshapen, panting  weakling as soon as he was carried into the show hall  - on several occasions. There have also been a number of  'tail-less wonders', the inevitable flecked ones (stars, every one  - believe me !), some which dropped spots immediately after winning their class and therefore got no further, and of course many years ago there was that Light Green cock which went lame, literally (so Dick McCreaddie informed us) just as he was about to be marked as Best in Show at Spennymoor show. And of course, two years ago there was that favourite young Cinnamon Hen which did not even reach the show bench before it took some kind of a seizure at our local show.  It died a week later .

 In 2002, at one of the open monthly meetings of the Northern B.S., one of our members  suggested that the society should run a novelty class at one of our inter-club shows; the idea was that it be an "If only " class, at which members would enter those birds which they consider to be potential show winners, were it not for the faults they displayed -- e.g. no tail, heavily flecked, permanently missing flights, etc.--probably an extensive list.  I strongly opposed this idea, stating that it would be impossible to make anything resembling a reasoned judgement, especially if someone brought a pet-type bird and claimed it would have been a world-beater if it had a good head and body.   Really, my main objection was that I knew we had a heavily-flecked Green Cock which would have beaten the lot --but I was sure  it would drop its flecks before judging ,and thus disqualify itself !

This introduces the two problems which have perhaps appeared most often in our aviary ; the flecking has proved to be the most persistent fault. Having said that, as I write we do still have two tail-less wonders (always 'Buff-feathered') in our birdroom at present, two others having died this year - but fortunately after breeding. The two remaining such birds have also produced young and so far, only one of a total of around sixteen young threatens to replicate the lack of tail. This said, there is little doubt in our minds that we should take the precaution of not breeding back too closely into those lines in case the problem has anything of a hereditary element; we rather feel that there is , at the least, a family susceptibility to such feathering defects, in some lines. However we have found (so far ) that it is possible to keep this tendency under control by judicious pairing to the more 'Yellow-feathered' type of bird; we would welcome any other views on this problem and other feathering defects..

Flecking , as I have already implied , has been present in our birdroom in various degrees for very many years. This comes as a surprise  to a lot of fanciers who are viewing our stud for the first time because, until very recent years, John and I rarely showed birds which were ticked to any degree. Further, we are well known for our opinion that this and other feather colouring faults  should  be paid more attention and penalised more heavily on the show bench than is generally the case at present. 

 Similarly, when we have visited other birdrooms and admired large, flecked birds, our comments have been met with considerable surprise and we are often met with "I was told that you only liked small, pretty birds ! "  We reply that, like the vast majority of fanciers, we  prefer a good big 'un to a good little 'un, but we still feel that there should be more regard paid to striving to produce those birds which excel in variety content; we should , as a society, aim to maintain (and in most cases, re-establish) the integrity of all varieties; otherwise, what is the point of producing and fixing all these mutations ?

 The Opaline is a case in point; a variety which many see to be in great decline, and one which is held to be far away from the original mutation. If you don't know what I mean by this, read the colour standard.  Even fanciers who have been in the fancy a relevant short number of years are now shaking their heads sadly and saying  " There are no good Opalines around now " and " We'll never get the Opaline back".   Even though most have probably never seen a well-coloured Opaline on the show bench (you still occasionally spot one in pet shops) they are basically repeating what 'older fanciers', who have even been long enough in the fancy to remember the distinctive iridescence that a properly coloured and marked Opaline possessed, have said. 

Similar remarks are already being uttered about another (this time ,still very popular) variety—the Spangle. Many purists assert that the only true version of this mutation is displayed in its Normal form

 Those  fanciers who are convinced that  the Opaline is lost forever  may be right, but I  don't really believe that it is so.  This is one mini-project which John and I have worked on  to some extent for a few years; we seem to have made some progress and hope to continue to improve those variety features, while still striving  for the more 'popular' exhibition qualities'  -  as no doubt are many other fanciers.      If we are capable of improving the exhibition features of our stock by careful selection, we are equally capable of restoring the true features of any variety by the same process, especially if the B.S actively encourages us to do so. Perhaps the end of a Best in Show award at shows in order to give more emphasis on the Best of Variety that the Challenge certificates represent, would be part of the answer. 

 As with a great many other fanciers who are striving to breed birds of substance, flecking is one of our main problems and, unfortunately, it is a fault which especially stands out on an Opaline, especially as it is normally accompanied by grizzling over the head and mantle: perhaps that problem and the difficulty of the challenge it offers is part of the reason for its decline in popularity.

 The other major fault which mars the Opaline of today is also found in the mantle, and that is of the main body colour suffusing what, ideally, should be an area of clear yellow (in a green) or white (in the blue series).  Normals are equally affected by suffusion, but it is not so apparent as it is on the Opaline ; similarly that fault in the Grey and Greygreen does not stand out as much as it does in the Skyblue and Light Green.

As in all other forms of  livestock husbandry, it is a question of ensuring careful selection, which at times means making very difficult decisions when it comes to sorting out and, more particularly, pairing up. It is also important to know ones stock through and through . A good memory is of great help, and those of us who are not so strong in that department need  to keep very good, detailed, records in order to help make the best possible selection of breeding pairs, by having regard to family qualities and traits as well as the purely visual appearance.  

In spite of all such considerations, we still experience setbacks and unexpected results, but are firmly committed to doing a little to restore the Opaline to a more acceptable place on the show bench.

Fishermen aren't the only ones who are still looking for the one that didn't get away ! 

                                                                  Dave Herring            August '03

 Whiter than White - (notes on Albinos)

Albinos are white budgerigars, with red eyes and an iris, which is free of melanin and masks the colour of the blue series birds. Albinos are a sex-linked variety which means that the visual character is carried on the X gene which is the male. A cock bird is expressed in these terms as XX and a hen is XY. For a cock bird to show in a visual form, the sex linked it must have for the purpose of this article albino on both the main genes (chromosomes ?) XaXa. A visual albino hen is shown as XaY as the albino (gene) is not carried on the Y or female gene (chromosome?). The same formula is true for all sex-linked varieties, Opaline, Lacewing, Slate, Cinnamons and Lutinos. A cock bird with the albino factor on only one of his male (X) genes is known as a split and will visually appear as a blue series bird, i.e. grey or blue in whichever form the mother and the father is masking. As a simple guide the expectations are as follows :-

         Albino cock to Albino hen             -          100% Albinos

         Albino cock to Non-Albino hen      -         Albino hens Xa-Y

                                                                      Split Albino cocks X-Xa

          Split Albino cock to Albino hen    -        Albino cocks Xa-Xa

                                                                      Split Albino cocks X-Xa

                                                                      Albino hens Xa-Y

                                                                      Non-Albino hens X-Y

           Non-Albino cock to Albino hen     -        Split Albino Cocks X-Xa

                                                                      Non-Albino hens X-Y

Ideally, Albinos should be totally white and free from any suffusion of markings. They should be light as possible in colour and therefore dark factor birds are inappropriate to use as outcrosses. As you see by the chart the best mating theoretically is Albino to Albino but as with any variety a good Albino for exhibition has to be foremostly "A good budgie". That means it has to be big, wide headed and stand upright at an angle of 30 degrees to the vertical, bold of eye and standing with confidence and an arrogance that draws your attention to it. Therefore you may find the need to use outcrosses to build in the missing ingredients I have mentioned as well as quality of feather and vigour.

The best outcross would be a double factor Light Grey hen and preferably opaline. Paired to an Albino cock all hens produced would be Albino with no blue suffusion. it is especially important if your Albino cock shows blue suffusion as this mating would kill the suffusion in the Albino hens produced as Grey is Dominant over Blue.

If your albino shows blue suffusion it means that it is masking Sky Blue or Cobalt and so if paired to a double factor Light Grey hen all the young would be single factor Grey split Albino cocks and Albino hens masking single factor Grey, which means Grey split Blue. This single factor Grey progeny would be better used if paired to Albinos bred through Greys as if Blue comes together on both sides of the mating blue birds will be produced which means any Albinos could be suffused.

The only sex-linked variety which should be used as an outcross is the Opaline because if you use a Cinnamon or Lacewing hen the male progeny will be complete waste for Albino production as they will be split for these factors. The only exception to that rule that I would make is that if you could breed good quality Albino hens, which would not carry Cinnamon or Lacewing in any form. It would be safer to discard the split cocks for Albino production as they would be split cinnamon as well as split Albino and the use of these would produce a lot of wastage.

Ticking has to be eradicated in Normal and Opaline exhibition budgerigars and as badly ticked birds should be used sparingly. They can be used with Albinos to great advantage, I believe, to increase the size, width of head, etc in the short term but should not be over-used as we wish to keep the melanin out of the systems of the Albino.

Once your aims are achieved in using outcrosses you are ready to return to the ideal pairing for producing pure Albinos and that, of course, is albino to Albino.

I hope I have been able to detail my thoughts on the breeding of this attractive variety and perhaps persuade you to increase your interest in them. If I have left any matters unanswered and you wish to know more or if you disagree with anything I have written, please write to me to exchange views and to discuss the topic.

John Herring

 FOSTERING -EGGS AND CHICKS       

 One of  the questions which I and other experienced fanciers are often asked is "What are your methods in fostering eggs, chicks etc.  Eggs usually are the easier proposition, always providing, of course, that there is another nest to which to move them.

          Like many fanciers, my partner (brother) and I like to mark all our eggs, at least at the beginning of the breeding season. 

Unlike many fanciers, we do not write a lot of information on each egg  ; we merely number them consecutively, using a water-based marker, rather than an indelible one.  We keep a separate, computer-produced, written record of the date each clutch starts, and later can transfer the information on to the original computer form, so that eventually, and time permitting, we can analyse the results/records later.

          We find that the somewhat time-consuming task of marking the eggs is often well rewarded, because it means that clear eggs can be identified at a very early date and removed, thus encouraging the hen to lay further eggs within the round.   A majority of hens seem capable of continuing to lay until they have a certain number of eggs to sit. It has been our experience that by taking away all clear eggs at seven days old, we can often eventually secure a nest containing some fertile eggs.  Last year, one of our hens laid seven clear eggs before producing a further four which were fertile - had we left those clear eggs with her it is highly unlikely that she would have laid eleven eggs - she would probably have laid only those first five or six which proved to be infertile ! 

            This was not the only hen which followed this pattern. Quite a few displayed similar, if not quite so dramatic traits and our system thus encouraged the laying of fertile eggs which we would not have had otherwise.This year, after a sluggish start we are pleased to note that one of our most promising pairs has now had its fourth egg prove fertile - hopefully the first of  many !

             Marking eggs in this way also serves a useful purpose when an emergency arises - such as a hen falling sick and deserting her eggs, or more happily, when a hen is unable  ( or unwilling ) to count, and continues to lay more eggs than comprises the normally accepted manageable clutch - one such hen, through our fostering system, ultimately provided us with ten chicks in one round last year 

 . In either situation, and many more, it helps greatly to have accurate records at your disposal, because  :-

         a) if all the eggs are numbered we can be sure that we foster them to the most suitable nests, and

         b) the most suitable fostering sites are more readily identifiable - in other words, it works both ways.. 

              If there is a suitable nest of clear eggs, of course, there is no danger of confusion of chicks, but where it is necessary to foster eggs amongst other fertile eggs, there can be a problem of identification. My partner and I are helped by the fact that we breed Albinos and Lutinos, as well as many of the normal varieties, and because of this we have the flexibility of often being able to place "ino" eggs in normal nests and vice-versa.This means that if two eggs hatch in the same nest, we can more or less immediately identify parentage by the fact that it either has, or has not, a red eye...

              Similarly, it is often necessary to hurriedly find a home for chicks, and the strict maintenance of records helps speed up this process. There is no danger of permanently "losing" the whereabouts of chicks if they are already rung, but if they need to be fostered out when very young and as yet unrung, it helps to be able to place them with birds which will be of a different colour - again, it is useful to have pairs of "inos" etc, but it can also be safely applied to various other birds - for example, Greens which have bred well but never produced a Blue, Normals which have bred copious numbers of normals, but no Opalines, Cinnamons or other sex-linked varieties . None of these latter-quoted examples are certain, but sometimes we have to take the best option. 

              I don't know whether this makes any difference, but when fostering chicks, we try to smear them with debris from their new home before tucking them in amongst their foster-siblings - it makes us feel a little more confident, at least. We prefer the foster-chick to be, if possible, of an average size and age in its new home, so that there is less of the "odd man out" in terms of size about the situation (colour does not seem to have any bearing !) , but this said, we have fostered chicks of all ages, in desperation, in to what appeared to be very unpromising looking sites. Even birds which have to be moved because they have been attacked by one or both of its/their parents are usually readily accepted and quickly fed. 

              This said, in fostering chicks, there is always some feeling of trepidation, because while the vast majority of hens will accept additions to their nests, there are some which are of a more highly strung nature and who will react badly to any change in their own domestic arrangements.        With any form of livestock, or indeed any form of life, there is never a complete answer . What works in one situation, or with one bird or pair of birds will not necessarily be effective with another. 

              All I can advise is that keeping detailed records to provide a close knowledge of the traits and temperaments of individual birds and, eventually, the families from which they spring can sometimes provide some indication as to how they will behave in a given situation, and allow us to act accordingly.

                  In the end, it is another aspect, in budgerigar breeding, which supplies one of those situations which makes our fancy so challenging, and therefore so fascinating..

                                                                                  David Herring

IT'S A GOOD BIRD - BUT WILL IT BREED ?

                                                                                                                   -or should I sell it?    

                                Anyone who has been in the fancy for any length of time has had to face this question on more or one occasion, and my brother and I are by no means an exception.  It is particularly easy for our partnership inasmuch as the selling of our surplus birds is left almost entirely to my brother, whose methods in selling birds tends more towards listing a bird's bad points (i.e. why we are selling it) rather than its good features. This makes good sense in itself because such is our nature that if we dwelt upon every bird's good points, we would end up in not selling any of them !  I am particularly at fault in this respect because I pay more attention to the likes of pedigree, and if a bird is the only product of a particularly good (visually) pair, I am very reluctant to part with it.

                                 Usually. however, at our annual "sort-out" we have no real trouble; in fact it is an event I look forward to because this is the time that my partner and I  really get down to discussing our stock - although, really we should be doing it throughout the year - and I ,at least, find this very productive. A difficulty always arises, however, when we come across those birds which we had retained with such enthusiasm "last year" - those young .large, cocks which seemed to have most of the physical attributes we were looking for, but which, nonetheless, have proved so gentle in nature that they seemed to display no inclination to reproduce their like, and which spent most of last year fussing around their hens and smiling benevolently on succeeding rounds of clear eggs. On the other side, there are those hens, again usually rather large and buff which, when paired up last year, took to the nest box as does a fish to water and either produced repeated rounds of clear eggs or, rather more ominously, went through a season of various re-pairings and produced nothing of an ovoid nature, greeting the nest box with all the joy and dedication which a young girl shows to her first wendy house !

                                 As I say, we have all had similar problems, and the time comes when we have to make the decision encapsulated in the title of this piece. The more commercially minded, who are conscious of having a 'clientelle' to satisfy year by year, will no doubt write off such birds and clear them out as quickly as possible. This is easily accomplished because such birds look so good and are always the first to catch the eye. This is probably also the best course for those who either have similar ambitions, or who only have a very limited amount of room - and thus breeding cages - at their disposal, and have to look at the best chances of maintaining productivity and thus ensure continuity in their stock. 

                                 On the other hand, there is the semi-eternal optimist who feels sure that these potential foundation birds will 'come up trumps this time', and  who therefore continue to use them as priority pairs in succeeding years. Unfortunately, the majority of such fanciers end up recording year upon year of poor breeding seasons until they 'cut their losses',and too often this means  selling up and leaving the fancy!  A real tragedy because had they taken a 'middle course', perhaps  by relying more on the visually poorer brothers and sisters of these 'star birds' their results year upon year may well have been more encouraging, and they would not have felt the need to pack up - a very expensive business and the more so when they come back yto the hobby, as so many do. "Once the bud bites.....""

                                  My partner and I are, of course, very lucky. We have now been in the fancy for some forty five years and if we, therefore, have not 'seen it all', we have experienced a good percentage of what can and does go wrong !  Fortunately, we now have quite a large birdroom and are therefore able to keep some of those birds whose breeding capacity is in doubt. It has to be said that in the majority of cases where we have kept birds which were so much bigger than their siblings, we have not managed to breed from them. There have, however, been exceptions and occasionally such birds have bred after a number of pairings over a period of time. One such bird which comes to mind is a Normal Grey Dominant Pied hen which finally bred for us late in the 2002 breeding season. She finally produced  three chicks for us, when she had reached an age by which she might have been a great-grandmother.  Being pleased with the quality of the youngsters, although by then she had been only paired to a bird which, though genetically sound was not one of our 'first-line' birds, we retained all three to use but made a point of pairing them all to birds from robust lines - a strategy which proved successful.

                                   Whether or not to sell these large hens which have not bred for us is always a difficult decision. At one time, many years ago, we had reached a stage where we could not recall having bred successfully from any Normal Light Green hen , and in this particular year we were reviewing two sisters which had not bred for us in the full preceding breeding season, and which had become more substantial in girth than we would have liked. We therefore decided to part with one of them:  a friend, who was a beginner whose wife had just been given a lutino cock (another "non-breeder")  by another of our  friends visited us and asked about this normal hen. In view of its failure to breed for us we sold it to him for either £1 or £2, but warned him of its 'track record'.  He took it home, subsequently paired it to the lutino cock and in the first nest, bred six hens - all, of course, lutinos. Two of those birds went on to win Best Breeder in section awards for him that year. In the second round, he bred all visual normals , that is Cocks/ ino).  I would add that we did not breed from the sister which we retained!

                                     We have also persisted with some of those large, gentle, cocks and found that some of them do breed in the second year, but tend not to fill many eggs. Again, what we have tried to do with the progeny of such birds is to pair them to birds from vigorous lines, and this has borne fruit for us once we have made the initial break-through; I would stress however, that we do have the additional space in which to 'chance our arm' on these hunch pairings, and usually we have nhad our success from them later in the season - too latefor the current year's shows, but still OK for stock for the next year.. 

                                    So, what are my conclusions on this.  Accepting that this is a question on which there can be no firm "Right" or "Wrong", I think that one needs a lot of luck to breed from even a percentage of these larger usually "Buff -type" birds, unless one is born with the skill and instinct of a natural stockman - a gift which few of us possess (I wish that I was one of them !)  If you have the room, try them but do not waste too much time on them early in the breeding season, especially if you have brothers and sisters of thses birds which may well have the same genetic make up and be therefore capable of breeding that "stormer" which we all aspire to.  If ,however, your  efforts with such "carthorses" meet with success, look for more vigorous, "yellow-type" ; stock to pair them to and always keep in mind the need to retain the vigour of your stock, because it is that vigour which will ultimately provide the continuity to enable you to see your breeding plans through..

                                      If, on the other hand, you decide that it is too much of a risk, sell them but PLEASE DO be honest with the buyer and explain exactly why you have made your decision to sell. This is a wonderful fancy, as I keep saying, and we want as many people as possible to enjoy it and succeed in their aims, so the general rules of "let the buyer beware" should not be the motto of the budgerigar fancy in selling stock. Apart from the moral consideration, our reputations as fanciers are enhanced more by the birds we sell and which breed for other fanciers, but may well be damaged by those birds sold which prove to be "duds".

                                                                                                               Dave Herring

Terminal decline  -- or can we save the patient ?

What a year we have had, so far, and I am talking about a period of nine months , since the B.S. decided (and I was one of those decision makers) to virtually cancel the show season, by withdrawing patronage to all shows (Yes, even "the National" - who more or less gave the B.S the 'Thumbs down' when it came to the crunch). It has been a time of trial and tribulation, especially for we in the N.B.S area who have had two cases in the South of our area; our sympathy obviously goes out to those fanciers, and it is, as I write, wonderful to hear that at least one of those fanciers has re-stocked and made a very promising start to the breeding season - life goes on!

         So, how do the rest of us come out of it ?   As I write this, in January, it is only about a month since the last outbreak, in South Yorkshire, was confirmed, but we are all hoping that few, if any, further cases will come to light.  Having said that, it may well be that this virus is  indeed something which we will have to try to live with, by applying the same restrictions as held good in recent 'Foot and Mouth' outbreaks and to other viral attacks. Another of life's little challenges !

         I feel that at this present time while we are facing this, however, we are additionally hampered by being advised by some of our luminaries including some of the speakers at the N.B.S meetings, that the fancy is and has been in decline for a number of years.  If you listen to them seriously, you might well get the impression that there is no point in planning for a future in budgerigars, except one of increasingly diminishing participation.  

         I feel that, especially now, it is necessary to admit that we have possibly reached a crossroads in our journey in the fancy, but if we look on the bright side, we will affirm that our life in the fancy can and will go on !  However, with the best will in the world, this is not a decision which will , in the long run, be taken by committees, either at national or at local level. 

         For years now, the fancy has been run by basically the same fanciers year in and year out, while the rest of us (including me until recent times) have either declared themselves to have "retired" from administration work  (in my case to give time to other long-neglected interests)  or to be academically incapable of taking on any official duties. Both are, perhaps, legitimate reasons: 'not having time' , I feel, is not a good excuse for doing nothing to help the fancy.

          Having said that, I am probably being far too judgemental, so can I approach the problem another way by listing some of the things which we can ALL do to raise the profile of the fancy and make it far more attractive to those within the fancy and perhaps even attract some folk who have the opportunity to get a glimpse of our activities :-

          AT AREA SOCIETY LEVEL.   

          1. Do you ever attend the Open Meetings ?  

                                                a) If not, why not give it a try ? We ,of the Northern B.S. meet on the first Sunday in each month at the Bowburn Community centre, Bowburn, Durham [just off the A1(M)] commencing at 2:30. Business discussions are kept to a minimum, although we always read minutes of committee meetings, letters etc in order to let our members know what is happening. The main highlight of the meeting, however is our speaker who invariably comes from outside our area , giving us a fresh insight into our hobby

                                                 b) If you come 'sometimes', can you try to come a bit more often and thus boost the attendance at all our meetings.  "The more we are together, the merrier we shall be"

           2 (a). Have you been to one of the Special events, e.g., the Beginners Day, Conventions or the Judges' Training Schemes held in the last year or two ago ? If not, would you be interested in any such event ? If so, please let the Secretary, Chairman, Publicity Secretary or one of the other officials know your thoughts - NOW, if possible ! 

           2 (b). If you live in the western part of the N.B.S. area, have you attended the meetings that are held in this region yearly? If so, and you are a regular attender, try to persuade someone else to join you. If not, please come to the next one that you can, if only to support those Officials who make the journey every year. And if you do come, PLEASE do not hesitate to let your feelings about the running of the fancy be known.   

                                                             3     . Have you considered taking on one of the 'jobs' in the your area society ?  If not, please do so now and if you have any thoughts about it, why not speak to one of the present officers or committee members ?

                                                             4.      Are you an exhibitor? If so, do you always show at your Area Society's Club show - If so, can you give a slightly increased  (benched) entry ?  If you have not shown at this show before,or only occasionally, please do think about making this show one of your regular events. When you think about it, this should be the best show,  by some  way, in the area and our Show Committee work hard to ensure that a very attractive schedule is on offer to all fanciers. 'Goodies' on offer include a more extensive classification so that breeders of rarer coloured birds, including dark factors have a better chance, a higher level of Budgerigar Society patronage. Please bear in mind that the workers at this show are also involved heavily in other events, so please give them all the encouragement that you can .  Our Club Show is our "Shop-window" -please help to make it more attractive !

         AT LOCAL SOCIETY LEVEL     

                                                             1. As above, do you attend your local meeting regularly ( or at all) ?  If not, please consider this very carefuly, because so many clubs nowadays are really struggling for membership. Unfortunately, what many of those clubs are short of is experienced office bearers, but so many of the experienced (usually 'successful') fanciers do not attend . The impression is that many of them feel that they have nothing to learn at such meetings, but in fact they have so much knowledge to impart. If you are one of these fanciers please give it some thought. 

                                                              2. If you are an exhibitor, do you always support your local show ? If so. can you bench one or two more birds at this show than last time ? If you do not always support that show, please consider doing so in future.

                                                              3. As a natural progression to this, what about other shows in our area. Do you support as many as you can ? Could you possibly show at more shows this year than in 2002 ? Bear in mind that supporting there shows may also encourage other fanciers to enter birds at your show. Again, "the more,  the merrier" - the atmosphere at any show is always considerably enhanced by a higher entry.

                           To conclude on the subject of shows, I know that many fanciers are reluctant to exhibit birds which they feel have no chance of winning or that are not up to their normal standard, but I would urge all exhibitors, until we have ad a chance to 'turn things around' to put aside their personal preferences in this matter and show as many birds as possible at as many shows as they can for the good of the fancy                                

            PUBLICITY AT ALL LEVELS 

                                                              This is very much one of my "pet theories". I strongly feel that the fancy at all levels does not use the media, both inside and outside of the fancy, sufficiently, but will at this point only highlight the work of "The Budgerigar", the Budgerigar Society's official magazine. In recent years, it has been felt that this magazine  does not wish to receive any "old news" or information about the fancy at Grass-root level. 

                       I would stress that if it was ever so, it is not the case now . I know that over the last couple of years, our Publicity Officer has found it very difficult to find subjects for his regular columns, so may I appeal to all local society Publicity  Officers or secretaries to send our Publicity Officer any interesting snippets about the proress of their society, unusual breeding results etc, on a regular basis , to ensure that the 'Northern' column remains attractive to all readers.

                         Finally, another "hobby-horse" of mine; I refer to the fact that so much of our thoughts and planning is geared to the exhibition side, and we hear little about those of our members who are interested in colour breeding, whether it be to supply the pet market, or whatever. Can I suggest that such fanciers let themselves be better known, and tell the rest of us about their interest by writing an article on the subject?  If anyone needs any help with the preparation of such an article for either the N.B.S or B.S. publications,, I would be happy to assist.

  "Faggies !"

 (Article submitted to "This England" magazine Nov 2003)

For a number of years now, and especially as I became somewhat arthritic, I have looked forward to a good, long, hot, soak in the bath at the weekend, always accompanied by a steaming hot cup of tea, and at several times of the year, including mid-November- a generous glass of whisky. All that is then required to settle me into a totyally blissful state is some enjoyable literature, and every thirteen or so weeks  "This England" comes as a particular treat.

     So it was with the Winter edition; I always wallow in those reminscinces in which I am able to share and I feel increasingly at one with the majority of the magazine's contributors, but nothing has come quite so near to home as the page of illustrations published on Page 39 - I refer  to the "Faggies". As boys in the late 40's and early 50's,my brother and I, like our schoolfellows collected cigarette cards, albeit in a rather desultory and haphazard manner - we were seriously hampered by the fact that none of our close relatives were smokers, so we had to collect them wherever we could. Even in those days there were litter louts who threw their cigarette packets to the ground;  sometimes, to our great delight, they contained cards.

      At that time, we were largely interested in those series which depicted film stars, footballers and the railways - but beggars can't be choosers, so all contributions were gratefully received. However, I am not sure that we would have greeted a series about cage birds with anything other than mild interest.

      How we change! I found page 39 fascinating, because it depicted birds which I am still accustomed to seeing. In partnership with my brother, I am a breeder of budgerigars, but over the years we have also visited many Cage Birds shows, which usually include a strong "foreign birds" section at which most of the birds portrayed in your illustration regularly appear. There are, in fact, still many hobbyist breeders who keep these birds  -  they are not confined to professional aviaries. If any readers were attracted by any of these birds, I can assure them that they will be able to find some of them at a show fairly near to their own home, usually shown alongside strong classes of various types of canaries  (there is a wide range of distinctly different breeds - in the same way as breeds of dogs, cats, etc vary). Anyone at all interested in birds will find these shows well worth a visit.       

         Most of the "foreign birds" illustrated are judged on the feather condition of the bird itself, its rarity, and the expertise with which it is presented . Like other livestock bred for exhibition and to form good pedigree lines (for example, rabbits dogs, canaries, and cats, guinea pigs, ornamental fowl etc), the budgerigar has changed considerably in comparison to the original (Melopsitticus undulatus) as it is found in the wild. By all accounts, the illustrations you published, although probably not produced by a budgerigar fancier, are not too far removed from the type of birds being bred by fanciers at that time;  there is no doubt that great changes have been made by careful selection over the years, and these were well recorded in the 40's and, I believe, early fifties by the artist, R.A.Vowles. The exhibition budgerigar as we first new it was similar to those illustrations of Mr Vowles, which were based on The Budgerigar Society's official Ideal bird. Just how much it has changed can be observed by comparison with photographs of recently bred budgerigars,

      Wild budgerigars are, in the main, green in colour. Occasionally mutations do appear but only when such appear in aviary/birdroom conditions can breeding programmes be carried through to fix these mutations. The work of Gregor Mendel in establishing laws of inheritance have proved to be of great benefit to the serious breeder of the various colours of budgerigars as well as all the other small and large forms of livestock.

          This fascinating hobby can be pursued under many conditions, in housing as small as 6' x 4' , and of course, the majority of fanciers have just an outhouse, a small shed at the bottom of the garden, or an ornamental aviary in which they keep a collection of mixed colours. This allows them to breed birds of myriad colours and markings which are particularly attractive to people who wish to have a pet bird in the house. There are not so many budgerigars kept as pets nowadays, because more people find them too tying at times of holidays etc, but those who do decide to keep one of these delightful little birds, famous for their gift of mimicry, rarely regret the decision. 

           My brother and I took up this hobby in October of 1958, only a few weeks or so after we had acquired our first pet budgie. We started off  with a tea-chest, a piece of chicken-wire, some seed , grit and, one pair of birds, which we proposed to keep in our bedroom.  Our father decided that our new-found enthusiasm should be encouraged and he quickly converted his workshed, in the backyard, into an aviary for us. Some forty five years later we are keener than ever.

           The budgerigar fancy continues to thrive, although we do have our problems; the fancy is only now recovering from an outbreak of a virus, which scientists are still endeavouring to identify, but we seem to be over the worst. It is unfortunate that we have had to cancel all our shows in Britain this year, but we are already planning to enjoy a full show season in 2004. All the signs are that the fighting spirit that has stood us in good stead as a nation in the past are rising to help us in this time of comparatively minor trouble. The main problem, as is being found by many other hobbyists, such as flower and vegetable growers, model makers,etc is that there are nowadays so many other pastimes and pursuits available to people of all ages. We do find, however, that there is still a fairly steady influx of new fanciers, many of whom become established. I know that I am not alone in feeling that in due course attitudes will change again and there will again grow an urge to work the land and keep livestock - things that our fathers and forefathers have done for many years, if not centuries.

           If there is any general anxiety, it is about the kind of people that This England has encountered over the years. I refer to those who are loosely ( but totally inaccurately) referred to as "do-gooders". It is people of this ilk who seem to be doing their best to do away with the small livestock fancy in general; I regret to say that the R.S.P.C.A appears to be among their number and are asking Parliament to grant them powers which would completely go against our countrymen's instinct that his home should be his castle, except, of course where there is very strong evidence that intervention is necessary. Birds are particularly sensitive creatures, which require careful and dedicated husbandry. They will not breed and prosper unless they are properly managed and this fact is sufficient to ensure that the vast majority of fanciers care for their flocks as they should; those who fail to do so do not last long in the fancy!.  Keepers of caged birds everywhere seek all the support we can get in helping us preserve our hobby, which to us is a vital part of life in our green and pleasant land.

            Any reader who has access to the internet can visit the Budgerigar Society website at http://www.budgerigarsociety.com

                                                                                                              David Herring